Language and English

I'm not trying to defend lazy writing skills. I'm not directly trying to blame others either (although, I think a chunk of initial poor writing skills of any kind can be pinned back to improper or poor education. You can't fault the student, if the teachers failed to teach the right thing). I agree 100%... but do you mean to say that EVERYONE that uses email has an IQ over 120, and can be expected to master writing skills? Granted, chances are if you are on THIS list, you might be above average, but I am talking more in general (as I am sure some of the correction offenders do this in more places than here) No, it isn't too late, but there comes a time when improvement will stop, because a person can do no better. Or, improvement will stop, because the person logically chooses to attempt to do no better, because they have achieved a level that is "good enough", and their time can be better spent on other things. (ie: read Strunk and White, or better your job skills) I am not trying to defend myself, or say that any of this is about me. I want to make that clear... other than poor spelling, I am unaware of any serious language infractions I have ever committed on this list... and when writing anything other than email, I personally rely heavily on spell and grammar checkers... specifically to avoid having my writing make me seem like an ass... I want the honor of making me an ass to be totally on WHAT I write, not HOW I write. I just want some of the hard core language nazi's to realize that sometimes, they should just let it go. If you can't understand what was written, delete it, ignore it, whatever. Friendly constructive criticism is fine... but do it in jest, don't be a dick about it (this isn't saying YOU are a dick about it, no pun intended Richard, just in general, PEOPLE should not make federal crimes out of it... well, at least not until it has spun so badly off topic that it has become interesting and fun in it own right, like this thread). So if you can't understand it because it is so poorly written, you might be better off just ignoring it or deleting it. And if you are the person that wrote that way, and no one responds, maybe you should consider following more traditional writing styles, and check your grammar and spelling. And for those that can't do that (English, or the language of the group, is not their first language, and their skills in general are poor), they should mention that up front. I just don't think highly of people that quote an email specifically to point out writing errors in it. It has never convinced me of anything except that the quote corrector is an arrogant self righteous a-hole. However, if they were to be friendly about it, and do the correction in a tongue in cheek manner, then the original author would get the idea they should be more careful (and probably learn a few things), and the corrector would come off as being more friendly. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>